


The Orphans of Garreg Mach

by Dusklatte



Category: Fire Emblem: Fuukasetsugetsu | Fire Emblem: Three Houses
Genre: Angst and Hurt/Comfort, Canonical Character Death, Denial, Emotional Hurt/Comfort, F/M, Grief/Mourning, Other Additional Tags to Be Added, Slight Canon Divergence, Unhealthy Coping Mechanisms
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2019-10-23
Updated: 2019-10-23
Packaged: 2020-12-31 19:17:31
Rating: Mature
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 995
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/21150854
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Dusklatte/pseuds/Dusklatte
Summary: Byleth can not -will not- accept that he could die. She will do everything she can to stop it from happening.It pains Dimitri to see her go through something which is all to familiar to him.





	The Orphans of Garreg Mach

**Author's Note:**

> I'm mad at myself for getting an angsty idea but... Gahh... It was so damn hard to concentrate on my work when I had the idea in my head and needed to write it out...

She was in a state of disbelief as tears fell down her face, and rain fell to the ground around her. It had just been a simple mission… Investigate the abandoned chapel that some students kept sneaking into. To escort students who were there back to Garreg Mach. It was the least dangerous mission she had taken on with her class since becoming a professor.

_Yet it was the mission she had lost the most in._

The blood on her hands was slowly being washed away by the downpour. She wished it could be returned to the body it had come from, but it was impossible. He was bleeding out still, but there was no wound for it to bleed out from.

_And! She! Could! Not! Stop! It!_

“To think… The first time I see you cry… It’s over your old man...” Her eyes were wide with horror as she continued to cry, his steadily cooling hand weakly stroking her cheek. His mouth opened again, but his voice was now more of a raspy whisper. “Byleth… You keep living for me, yeah…?”

“S- Shut up...” Byleth closed her eyes in a panic, before a soft glow came from her hands as she tried to channel all of the healing magic which she had been taught by Rhea, Manuela and Mercedes over the past few months. “Just- Just hold on-!”

“By...leth… It’s too late...”

The crying professor refused to stop. Her hands were starting to tremble, the strain on her body from staying awake until late the night before with Dimitri, the previous battle, and her lack of extensive training in healing beginning to take its toll. Yet still, she pushed on. Her concentration was focussed on the general area she had seen Monica stab him, intent on healing the injury which was killing him.

“Professor-!” Even the shouting of her students was not enough to break her concentration, her desire to see her father sit up, have the bleeding stop, and just cry into his shoulder though relief of him living being the only thing keeping her going.

She never noticed the light surrounding her hands fade away. Mercedes kneeled down beside her, and gently took hold of her shaking hands and pulled them down. “Professor, it’s too late...” The student didn’t look at her, but instead looked at the ground. “You can’t heal the dead...”

Byleth’s entire body jarred at those words.

_You can’t heal the dead. The dead._

_Jeralt was dead._

_Her father, her only true family was dead-_

“Professor, I cannot even begin to-!” Next, Dimitri kneeled down beside her, and placed his arm over her shoulders. He noticed how Byleth was simply staring at the watered down blood on her father’s clothes, her deep blue eyes wide with horror… Familiar dark circles surrounded her eyes too. It was a sight that he… He was far too familiar with. “Come now… We must not remain here, or else we shall fall ill...”

It took a lot to get Byleth to move from where she was, the promise of Sylvain and Dedue to help with returning Jeralt to Garreg Mach being the factor which finally brought her to her feet.

The journey back to the monastery, though short, felt extremely long as the Blue Lions made their way back. After a while, Dimitri asked for everyone to go ahead of him and Byleth, and once they were alone, Byleth fell to her knees in what was her biggest show of emotion ever since they both met.

Her tears wouldn’t stop, her cries pained and suffering. Her throat sounded sore and strained as she clutched at her chest. She looked as though she wanted to curl into a ball on the ground and not move again.

Despite this, and despite how she began to lash out and fight Dimitri away from her as he kneeled down and took hold of her hands, she caved in and began to cry into his chest. All that Dimitri wanted to do was take away her pain, and save her from being haunted by the fact that she hadn’t been able to save Jeralt.

Time steadily passed, and the rain began to pick up. Byleth had eventually grabbed hold of the material of Dimitri’s uniform, and was whimpering into his chest.

“H… How… do you live like this, Dimitri…” She eventually stopped crying, her reddened eyes looking exhausted as she did her best to look up at him. “You… I… I’m like you now… We’ve lost our families...”

Dimitri felt a twinge of sadness in his chest, hearing the words which had come from her. All that he wanted to do was to give her the reassurance which she was seeking, and tell her that everything was going to be okay. But that was far from the truth… Tragically, horrifically far.

The ghosts which haunted him to this day was proof of that.

“I honestly do not know, Professor… And I feel it will be impossible for me to sugar-coat it for you… Even now, four years on, it’s hard. Every day is… a challenge. I still hear and see their last moments so clearly in my head.” He closed his eyes, but not after using his cloak to wrap around the shivering Byleth. “But please know… Both myself and the Blue Lions shall be here for you. Through the thick and thin, just as you have been here for us.” There was a heavy silence between the pair. “When we were given no choice but to bring about Lord Lonato’s death, you remained there for Ashe, helped him stay strong. When Miklan stood against us, you were one of the pillars of support which kept Sylvain going. Even Flayn… She could have died, and Seteth was beside himself in fear. You were incredible with your support. We shall be more than willing to be there for you." He pulled her into his warmth. "I promise, Byleth..."


End file.
